


Exponent/Irenic/Decry

by seraphichan



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Worldbuilding, and i'm still not sure i kept everything straight lmao, i had to make notes, much more than last time, my brain hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 10:49:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10332986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphichan/pseuds/seraphichan
Summary: “As dangerous as a ‘feral Wildling’?” Levi asked.Erwin smiled. “Not quite. Not yet, anyway. But I hope to change their minds on that account, to convince them that you should be kept in the land of the living.”“Do you think you can do it?”“Yes.”(a continuation ofthis)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kahleniel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kahleniel/gifts).



> Dedicated to Kahl because I know she was itching to read more for this au (and I _finally_ got some words to work with so I could write this scene!)

They took the main road through Mitras to the upper portion of the city where, Levi could tell by smell alone, only the best of the best lived. It was an appropriate place for a councilor to reside, though the house they arrived at was much more modest than Levi expected, and to the ones in the vicinity.

Moblit pulled the cart around back to the stables, Hange and Mike following to put their own horses away. Erwin disappeared briefly, returning with a set of restraints that were sturdier than the hemp rope that currently bound Levi.

“Just a precaution,” he said to Levi. “I’m sure you understand.”

Given the circumstances, Levi did. He frowned, but didn’t fuss, as Moblit put them on. Mike was watching him with a wary eye and Levi was confident that if he made one wrong move the larger man would have him pinned in seconds.

“I’ll draw you a bath,” Erwin said before going inside the house.

That piqued Levi’s interest. He liked the sound of that.

What he didn’t like was the fact that Mike carried him inside. The chain connecting the shackles on his legs was long enough that he could have walked by himself. He grumbled the entire time, only ceasing his complaints when they entered the bath chamber. Erwin was nowhere to be found, but there was a steaming tub of water.

Mike sat Levi on his feet next to the tub, then he bent over and pull a small knife from inside his boot.

“What are you doing?” Levi asked, taking a step back.

Mike gave him a tired look. “Removing your clothes. Don’t worry. We’ll give you new ones.”

“Take these off and I’ll do it myself,” Levi said, holding up his shackled hands.

Mike snorted. “If you don’t want me to do it, I’m sure Hange will be more than happy to.”

Levi looked around Mike to Hange who had dragged in a chair from the hall and sat themselves in it. They waved at Levi, eyes alight with excitement at what Mike had proposed. Levi looked back at Mike.

“Just try not to nick me,” he said and Mike smiled.

To his credit, Mike cut off his clothes quickly and had the decency to avert his eyes to Levi’s nakedness. A quality that Hange apparently did not possess as they continued to stare at Levi well after Mike had turned to dispose of the shredded clothes in a waste bin by the door. The glare Levi gave Hange didn’t deter them either, so Levi was subjected to their gaze as he half climbed, half fell into the tub.

“Soap,” Mike offered once Levi had maneuvered himself as comfortably as he could in the water.

Levi grabbed it from his hand and started scrubbing at himself. He hated that it had to happen like this, but at least they were letting him bathe. He was dusty and dirty and this is what he would have been doing if he was still free anyway. 

A knock sounded on the door and Erwin poked his head in.

“Is the water warm enough?” he asked Levi.

“Yeah.”

“Wonderful,” he said as he came in the room fully, dragging a spare chair behind him, much like Hange did, and setting it next to the tub where he then sat. What was with these assholes and watching him bathe?

“My apologies, this must be awkward,” Erwin began.

No fucking kidding.

“But we need to talk. I’m confident you can do both at once. Then you can eat and get some rest before tomorrow. It’s sure to be a long day.”

“Fine,” Levi mumbled, continuing to scrub at his skin even harder. “You just need me to vouch for that thing that blinded the fuck out of me, right?” he asked, remembering Hange’s comment from their trip outside the city.

“Yes, but not just that.” Erwin paused as if gathering his thoughts. “What do you think about the state of things?”

Levi wanted to reply that he’d rather be unchained and bathing alone and not here, but he knew that wasn’t what Erwin meant.

“Pretty fucked--”

Living in the wild wasn’t easy, even if Levi had been doing it all his life. No one from the walled cities, or even it’s outlying settlements, traded with him or anyone else from his clan. The only ones that did were members of other clans, but those deals were precarious at best, and often what one clan needed, every clan needed. That’s what led to the pillaging and stealing of passing caravans. They were just desperate to survive.

Sometimes, though, even that wasn’t enough - it seemed that the people under the protection of the kingdom were just as bad off these days. The prolonged war up north was starting to affect everyone. Raids were becoming more and more common. And not just on the outlying settlements by the members of the clans. The reverse was happening as well. The Ackermans had already had to move three times in as many years because of raiders that were kingdom citizens. They kept going deeper into the woods where everything was twice as harsh and twice as unpredictable, and twice as likely to get them killed.

“--but so what? It’s been fucked since before I was born. What do you expect me to do about it?”

Erwin opened his mouth, but before he could speak there was another knock and, this time, Moblit came in. The fucking gang was all here and Levi sunk deeper into the tub in his annoyance.

“For Erwin,” Moblit said, entering the room completely and waving a piece of folded paper in his hand. “Probably a summons,” he continued as he walked over to Erwin and handed it to him. Moblit didn’t look Levi’s way and for that Levi was grateful.

“Thank you, Moblit,” Erwin said.

Moblit nodded and Erwin broke the waxen seal, read over the contents twice, an amused look on his face.

“You’re quite right, Moblit, it is a summons. ‘For recklessly endangering the innocent lives of the City of Mitras with the illegal habitation of a feral Wildling of ill-repute.’ How expected. But it looks like I won’t have to notify anyone in the morning, after all. The guard beat me to it.

“The council doesn’t like me very much, you see,” Erwin said, attention turning back to Levi.

“Yeah, I gathered that at the gate. You leave a pile of horseshit on their doorsteps or something?”

Mike snorted, mouth twitching into a brief smile. Hange cackled, almost falling out of their chair.

“Moblit and I were both very young and very drunk,” Erwin said airily and Moblit coughed, cheeks pink.

“Wait, seriously?”

“Mostly, though,” Erwin continued as if he had never made the remark, “it’s because I have ideas.”

“Good ideas,” Mike elaborated gruffly.

“And those ideas make me dangerous.”

“As dangerous as a ‘feral Wildling’?” Levi asked.

Erwin smiled. “Not quite. Not yet, anyway. But I hope to change their minds on that account, to convince them that you should be kept in the land of the living.”

“Do you think you can do it?”

“Yes.”

Levi raised an eyebrow at him skeptically and Erwin laughed.

“But it won’t be easy.”

+++++

Of course it wouldn’t be. Not if Levi couldn’t even get in the council chambers for his fate to be debated in the first place.

“This is hardly necessary,” Erwin said after the third guard frisked Levi.

Levi snorted in agreement as the fourth man stepped forward to pat him down. It seemed that each councilor - eight of the fuckers in total, not counting Erwin - had their own, personal body guard, and that each of them were going to make sure Levi was clear of any and all weaponry, and dignity, before he was allowed to enter the room.

“I am with Erwin in that regard,” piped up one of them in agreement. He was an older man with deep wrinkles under his eyes, and the only hair on his head was a thick mustache beneath his nose. He had a calculating smile, just like Erwin, but there seemed to be more good humor in his eyes.

Levi was glad he was enjoying himself at least.

“But, Councilor Pixis--” began another.

“The man is obviously well-restrained,” Pixis continued, nodding at Levi’s shackles, which had, once again, been changed.

Levi still had the chains around his feet. His hands, however, were now in closely linked cuffs that were connected together by a single iron ringlet, and the cuffs themselves were attached to an iron bar around his waist by a short chain barely the length his own middle finger. Which he was very tempted to raise at everyone in the vicinity. Instead he merely made the comment:

“Can’t even scratch my own ass.”

Pixis chuckled while the rest of the council murmured in disapproval, but the search of Levi’s person ended and he was led into the room, made to stand on a small podium in front of where the councilors took their seats. Only Erwin stayed on the floor as he was the one under inquiry. He took an easy stance, one that told Levi this happened quite often. Mike stood a few steps behind him and to the side in the same way. He looked bored at best.

Levi, himself, was eager to get this show on the road. Half because he wanted to know if he should start thinking of a plan to make a run for it - shackles be damned - and half because he realized earlier that morning that Erwin never answered his question from last night of what any of Erwin’s plans, beyond validating the blinding weapon, had to do with Levi. After Moblit had come in Erwin had left and Levi had been clothed, fed, and put to bed, all under the watchful eyes of either Mike or Hange.

“We will now commence this session. I, Darius Zackly, as current electorate Head Councilor, will act as moderator. By your leave, gentlemen.”

“Let’s get to it then,” a man said immediately. He had beady eyes and the worst haircut Levi had ever seen. Levi already hated him. “Councilor Smith, why have you brought this scum--”

“Levi,” he spat. Fuck this guy.

“What?” the man sputtered, equal parts pissed and surprised that Levi had spoken out against him.

“Levi,” he repeated.”This scum has a name and it’s Levi.”

“Upstart little--”

“The councilors,” Zackly interrupted, “are advised to call the Wildling by his name from this point forward as I have a feeling this whole proceeding will go faster if we do.”

Levi smirked at the man and he bristled.

“Please continue, Councilor Sannes,” Zackly said.

“Why have you brought Levi,” Sannes corrected with disdain, “to our city and to us?”

“Previously the council approved the development and testing of a new weapon using ‘synthetic magic,’ as created by my colleague Hange Zoe, that would stun, but not kill. While we were originally aiming to use this on a boar, or something of similar size, we instead caught Levi and brought him back, which can be considered a much more fortuitous capture than a mere wild animal.”

There were intrigued hums from the councilors, they seemed impressed. All but one, anyway.

“But how do we know that’s actually what caught him?” Sannes asked.

“It was,” Levi said irritably.

“He’s lying.”

“Councilor Sannes,” Erwin began, “what reason would there be for him--”

“You bribed him, obviously.”

“Fuck off,” Levi said. 

“Excuse you?” Sannes squinted at him.

“I said _fuck off_. If it wasn’t for that shitty thing do you think I would be here right now, talking to all you assholes? Yeah, it worked. I’m living fucking proof.”

The council erupted into loud murmuring. Zackly had to strike his podium with his gavel several times before they quieted.

“He’s blunt and bad mannered,” Pixis said, “but I think his presence is, truly, testament enough. We’ve caught many a boar and deer, but we’ve never managed to catch a Wildling before. They are very slippery.”

There were rumbles of agreement - except from Sannes who looked like he had just swallowed his own piss - and Levi stared at Pixis curiously. Erwin said the members of the council didn’t like him, but this guy seemed alright. Maybe he was just using Erwin as a pathway for his own means, but as long as it kept Levi alive, he didn’t care.

“So, you have presented us with the Wildling Levi as evidence that your weapon’s experiment was successful, is that correct, Councilor Smith?” Zackly asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“And you wish to continue with the development of this weapon?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well. Granted.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now that leaves us only one matter left to discuss. Do we release Levi back where he came from or do we have him hung?”

“Actually,” Erwin said.

Levi breathed a small sigh of relief. Finally, he could get some answers.

“I believe he should stay here, very much alive and unharmed.”

Wait. Stay here? Why would he? Levi didn’t realize that’s what Erwin wanted from him. He was hoping he would get to go free. He’d kill some of these uptight assholes first, if Erwin wanted, but he wanted to go home in the end.

“For what purpose?” Zackly asked. A good question.

“To attain peace with the Wildling clans.”

A hush descended on the council. Sannes was the first to speak.

“Impossible,” he dismissed.

Levi, grudgingly, agreed with him The clans rarely got along with each other. Levi staying in Mitras wouldn’t fix that.

“Cooperation then.”

Sannes scoffed. “What’s the difference?”

“In cooperation we can still despise each other while also still striving for the same goals. It’s all a matter of keeping that hate in check for the greater good.”

There was an unspoken “Much like I do with my relationship with this council” that hangs in the air. Erwin allowed it to disperse before speaking again.

“The war in the north has been raging for years. The people are tired. They don’t just need victory, they need hope. Let Levi be that hope.”

“He’s hardly diplomatic material,” said a different man this time. He had shittier hair than the Sannes guy and a goatee that made it look like a rat had shed on his face.

“You insult me, Councilor Dok. I would never suggest such such a thing. No, I was thinking more along the lines of fighting power.

“Have him fight for us, whether it’s repelling bandits or dissuading the enemy forces up north. Let him inspire our people, show them that Wildlings can be fierce and loyal, and fight for our cause. Let him inspire his own, so that they may join him.”

“Wai--”

“And should other Wildlings choose to do so?” Pixis asked, as if Levi hadn’t started to speak.

“They wo--”

“Hire them as mercenaries.”

“Mercenaries need to be paid,” Zackly said.

“Will you lis--”

“Do it with the land regained. Turn them from soldiers to subsidy farmers.”

“And Levi would be the catalyst for all of this?” someone else asked.

“I’m not--”

“That is what I propose.”

“Why would he agree?” Sannes finally spoke, as condescending as before, and fuck if he wasn’t actually making the most sense right now.

Erwin nodded and Mike stepped forward, yanked Levi’s head back. Levi was about to curse at him, but then he felt the steel on his skin and he froze. He glanced at Erwin out of the corner of the corner of his eye. His face was impassive, unreadable.

“If he will not cooperate,” Erwin addressed the council, “then we will just catch another - maybe more - that will. It has been proven, by the council’s observation, by Levi’s _own word_ , that we have the means.”

 _Son of a bitch_.

“Well, what say you, Levi? Will you help us in this manner?” Zackly asked him.

“I…” Levi started, but trailed off. He was in shock. Erwin, the fucking bastard, had tricked him; trapped him in this impossible situation where he _had_ to agree or he was dead. And Levi had walked right into it.

At his hesitation, Mike pressed the blade hard enough to Levi’s throat to cut the skin. Levi could feel as the blood started to trickle down his neck.

“I’ll do it!” Levi said, voice high pitched in his panic.

Mike stopped, looked at Erwin, who nodded, before he moved the blade away.

“Okay. Fuck,” Levi breathed. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“See, gentlemen,” Erwin said, “he values life much like we do.”

“His own maybe,” Sannes mumbled.

“It is two sides of the same coin. If he forsakes our lives, our goals, then he forsakes his own.”

The was more murmuring, a strike of the gavel, and then they took a vote. It must have gone well because Levi was still alive. He wondered, though, for how long. And if death would have been an easier option in the end.

Levi knew only one thing for certain: he had been pulled from a pit of vipers by the tail of the worst viper of them all.


End file.
